Unlikely Contact
by CoreyStaves
Summary: AU. The first contact war turns into the Turian's full occupation of planet Earth. Every Shepard, a street rat who had just begun training in the Alliance Navy, has returned to the streets and the sewers with one of her military buddies, Ashely Williams, to keep her company.
1. Prologue

The first time that Humanity discovered actual proof of other life in the universe was when she was 7. The news was broadcast all over the earth, simultaneously, directly from Mars. She was able to view it on one of the jumboscreens at Times Square in New York City. It was at that time that she knew what she wanted to do with her life. The Systems Alliance space-exploration program was always accepting recruits, and she would be able to apply at the age of 18.

It's amazing how her dreams had been shot and blown to pieces in only a few years.

Over a decade after the first evidence of alien species, humanity came into contact with one. While attempting to activate another Interstellar Drive the frigates Pathfinder, Sentry, and Cosmos were attacked and destroyed, along with a couple cargo ships. The aliens responsible for the attack continued through the star systems until they reached Colony-9, on the planet Shanxi. The planet was overrun in a couple of days.

In only a couple months time the aliens had come to Earth, with ships and guns and soldiers.

She had only gone through 10 months of training. Of having the absolute knowledge that she would be getting a meal three times a day, even though it would most likely taste horrible. Only 10 months until she was forced to go back onto the streets, along with any other trainees that had survived the first attack on the Alliance training base.

The jumboscreens that she had first seen proof of alien life on were broken now. Smashed into pieces by the alien occupation.

It only took two months for the Turians to fully occupy the planet.


	2. Chapter 1

"Williams, Williams!" She whispered heavily into the sleeping girl's ear. She shifted in her sleep.

"Goddamit Williams, wake the fuck up!" She continued her assault, shaking the older girl awake.

"For god's sakes Shepard we're not in basic anymore. I think we can sleep in past 7 am every once in a while, don't you?" She replied without opening her eyes, turning around so that her back faced Shepard.

"Rations are almost gone Williams, we need to go out on another supply run." The sleeping girl's eyes opened in surprise.

"Fuck, that's the second time in two weeks."

"I know, we're gonna need to start to search further away from base. Supplies are running out."

"Resitance fighters?"

"No I just think we're eating too damn much."

Williams laughed, "You better watch yourself there Shepard, you might not be able to see your ribcage anymore." She joked. She was referring to when Shepard had first joined Alliance Navy basic training. She was so skinny that the Alliance almost thought twice about enlisting her. She was able to convince them that if they just let her get some food into her body that she would be in shape in no time.

Williams got out of the makeshift bed, an old mattress grabbed from one of the less fine hotels in town, along with some old fleece blankets and a cardboard-thin pillow. The two girls shared the mattress to sleep in. One would rest while the other stood watch.

They were currently holed up in an abandoned subway car underneath Manhattan, and far enough away from Central Park where a Turian base camp was situated. The aliens did regular scouting parties topside all around the island but nearly never ventured down into the tunnels, or onto the tracks. Any resistance force left in the city knew that the subway lines were the best place to be.

"So, do you have any suggestions on where we should scout next?" Williams asked while walking through the train to what they decided to call the "war car". It held any weapons they were able to scavenge from the dead corpses of any Turians that had been attacked by resistance fighters. Along with a few guns and a lot of ammo they had also been able to scavenge severals packs of their medi-gel and a holographic machine that they each had attached to their left hands.

On the floor of the War Car was a large map of Manhattan, including the underground subway tunnels. Severals blue dots could be seen on the map, along with one big red dot that marked where their camp was.

"All the places I've marked in blue are where we've cleaned everything out. We don't have anywhere within 10 blocks that is close to the subway line. There are places we could go to that are only a few blocks off though."

"But that would be too risky, wouldn't it?"

"Hey, we knew it would start getting more difficult one day. We've exhausted our resources by the subway line, and if we risk going any farther north then we might hit Central."

"So where do you suggest then?"

"Right here." Shepard pointed out with her finger. "There's a convenience store around there, a couple of apartment buildings too. We'd only be topside and out in the open for a few minutes. 7 maybe 10 max."

"I don't like apartments."

"It's the only chance we've got, Williams. We'll just do the first three floors, that should give us enough."

"Fine, let's get ready then." They got up from their spots on the floor and started to walk around the car, gathering guns and ammo. Shepard picked up her pistol and SMG, scavenged from a dead Turian a few months ago. Williams snickered while Shepard inspected up the two small guns and she went straight for the assault rifle and shotgun. Williams was the weapons expert of the trainees and told Shepard that the two weapons wouldn't pack much of a punch against the armour that some Turians wore. Shepard took them anyway and they hadn't failed yet.

The two guns were holstered in a belt around her waist. She wore a black hoodie and backpack. Behind her Williams strapped the shotgun to her back and readied her assault rifle.

"Ready?" Shepard asked.

"Got your six, Shep." Williams replied.

* * *

After trekking through the dark subway tunnels they came to the exit closest to where they were trying to go. Shepard slowly drew her pistol from its holster and held it in front of her head. Arms straight and strong, just like Williams taught her. They began their slow ascent up the stairs, listening for the marching of Turian squads. As they walked up, the sun shone into their eyes, making them squint after being in the dark tunnels for so long.

"Clear?" Williams asked.

"Clear."

They sprinted out of the subway entrance and towards the nearest building, trying to stay out of the revealing light of the sun.

"Where to?"

"Follow me, stay close."

Shepard led Williams down the precisely planned route. One that would keep them off the main streets as much as possible and hidden in the shadows of the skyscrapers around them. The destination she had in mind was a small drug shop, which should have some non-perishables left over and, if they were lucky, clothing and batteries. Once there Shepard broke the glass with the butt of her gun while Williams watched for movement around them. As soon as she got into the store she started stuffing as much as she could get her hands on into the backpack. The bag was halfway full when a blast rang out.

The noise was close and loud enough to make the ground shake and her ears spike in pain. She quickly ran out to Williams.

"What the fuck was that?"

"No idea, lets get the hell out of here."

Shepard quickly drew her SMG from her side and ran in the direction that she thought the noise had come from.

"Shepard, what the fuck are you doing."

"Going to see what happened." She replied over her shoulder before speeding up, giving Williams no option but to follow.

Coming up to where the bang originated she saw a hole in the pavement, with chunks surrounding it that had been blown off the ground. However, it was the second thing she saw that scared her the most. At the back of the alley, leaning against the wall was a Turian. Williams gasped behind her. Strengthening the hold on her gun she started to slowly walk towards it.

"Shepard! Shepard get back here."

"I just wanna take a closer look."

"Shepard somebody probably heard that we have to get going now!"

"One second!"

Getting closer to the Turian she noticed that it wore no helmet and instead favoured a blue visor that sat in front of its left eye.

"Fuck, you seen one without their helmets?" Williams whispered behind her.

"No. I never knew what they looked like under all that armour."

"What happened here?"

"The hole in the pavement...looks like an underground proximity mine, military grade."

"How do you know?"

"There's a piece on the ground over here. It's made out of the same metal as the mines they showed us in basic." She replied absentmindedly, walking closer to the body leaning against the wall.

"What are you doing now?"

"I want to see what it looks like." She kneeled down next to the alien and setting her gun down on the ground next to her. From behind her she heard Williams run up next to her, her gun at the ready. Shepard slowly reached her hands towards the Turians head, which rested upon the chest of its armour.

The skin - if you could call it that - of the right side of its face had been blown off and was bleeding profusely, the sticky blue-coloured blood coating her hands. Its eyes were closed, so he must have been knocked unconscious due to the blowback of the bomb. She continued to study the features of the alien, for the first time noticing how it looked familiar to the birds and dinosaurs of Earth.

Just then the eye of the alien opened, making Shepard jump back in surprise as Williams quickly pulled the trigger on her rifle, the shot just barely missing due to her shock. Shepard placed a hand on the gun, silently telling Williams to calm down. In front of them the alien started to panic, trying to calm its breathing own. A gurgling sound make out of its mouth each time, the sound of blood getting caught into its throat. Its breath became even more laboured as he continued to panic, thrashing its limbs in fear.

As she looked down at the alien, Shepard found herself feeling sorry for it. Which was odd, seeing as its entire species had been responsible for the destruction of her home planet. Then, one of its bright blue eyes found hers. As she looked back into it, she saw pain, fear, and most of all, sadness. She felt sympathy for the alien. It probably wouldn't survive this. She started thinking of where it came from, what its home planet was like. Maybe it had parents waiting back home, and a sibling or maybe even a mate. Her legs started to slowly walking toward the panicking alien, crouching down as she got closer to it. It continued to stare at her, growling from the back of its throat when she was eye-level with its face, this made its choke and cough up blood from the back of its throat.

"Shhh…" She comforted, bringing her hand to the side of its face that wasn't damaged, "I'm not gonna hurt you." She said sincerely, keeping eye contact as she tried to calm it down. The alien managed to get a hand between its body and hers, pushing her away from it with alarming force. She was thrown a couple feet back, breath rushing out of her lungs as her back hit the pavement.

"Shepard!" Williams cried out. She ran straight to the alien, pressing the barrel of her gun right into its heat, above the piece it wore over its eye. "Don't you fucking move you blue-blooded piece of shit." She threatened. The alien suddenly stopped thrashing, its breathing harsh. Whines and clicks starting to come out of its mouth. The Turians had their own language, almost untranslatable to any standard Earthen languages, though in the final stages of the occupation there was word that someone had broken it. Nothing after the aliens had taken over, however.

"Williams, stop it." Shepard reprimanded as she lifted herself from the ground.

"Shep-."

"I said stop it!" Shepard repeated, more forcefully this time. Williams may have been a couple years older than her, but she would fall into place. Shepard had kept them alive for this long, and WIlliams wasn't one to challenge her. Getting up from her position on the ground, she went to stand in front of the alien, putting her hand on William's shoulder and pulling the barrel of her gun away from its head. With her other hand she reached toward the alien, an offer to help it stand up.

The Turian looked straight at her, probably analysing what the fuck this puny human girl thought she was doing.

"I want to help you." Shepard said as sincerely as possible. The key to communicating with others who don't understand what you're speaking is tone and body language, she remembered, hoping that the alien wouldn't take what she was doing as violent or offensive. "I don't want to hurt you." She reinforced, voice calm and level, nudging her hand closer to him.

Slowly, without taking his eyes off of hers, he extended his hand to her. She grasped it tightly, his three fingers fitting weirdly between her five, he pulled him off the ground as he pushed up with his legs. Immediately, he fell, probably dizzy due to the blood he had lost from the blast. For the second that he was standing at full height, she was surprised at how tall he actually was, his huge frame dwarfing her 5'5".

"Can you give me a hand here, Williams." She asked, exasperatedly.

"You fucking kidding me, Shep?"

"Nope, my brain function are working incredibly well right now." She replied, looking pleadingly at Williams. It took the other girl a few seconds but, like a good soldier, she followed through, hauling the alien's left arm onto her shoulder as Shepard got its right. Its body became heavy as it lost consciousness. The two girls began to slowly trek back to the underground station, when Shepard saw something glitter out of the corner of her eye.

A large weapon had been thrown into the corner of the alley, probably due to the blast. From its foreign look, it was probably what the Turian was using as a weapon, which explained his need for the fancy eyewear. Without telling Williams, Shepherd ran out from under the alien, not listening to the other girl's cry of distress. Once she got to the gun, probably a sniper rifle judging by its size, she touched it and it immediately shrunk into a more portable size, clicking into place. The more compact size, however, did not take away how heavy the gun actually was. She quickly stuffed the thing in her pack, then ran back to Williams.

Slowly but surely, the two were able to make it back underground without being noticed.


	3. Chapter 2

He was _not_ supposed to be this far south of home base.

Patrol movement had been restricted by the higher-ups when they had finally figured out that the Humans had resorted to going underground, in their tunneled-transportation system, to raise some sort of "resistance" group to fight the Turian occupation. Two months after full-occupation had occurred in the City, two Turian patrols consisting of forty men had been found, twelve blocks south of the Shining Lights Square. All were dead, most weapons were taken. Turian command restricted patrols to five blocks south of the Square.

Somehow, Garrus had somehow found himself much farther than he at first anticipated to go. He left home base with the intention of only going to the Square and back. _To release some built up tension_. He explained to the guard on duty. The guard had looked at him suspiciously, probably wondered why an Infiltrator-Class soldier was going out by themselves. However, she had let him pass without asking to speak to his superior, whom he had _not_ consulted before his little joy-trip through the City.

There he was again, breaking basic protocol.

The Sol-system's Sun was high in the sky as he walked down one of the City's largest streets. Human vehicles, most a bright yellow with broken lights on their tops, were sitting on the road. They were lined up in rows, at the still-working blinking lights, almost like everything could start back up again in a matter of seconds. This had been one of the Human's most populated cities. When he had first set foot on the odd planet, he was amazed how built-up their civilization had been. For what he had been told was a 'less developed' civilization, the Humans had still accomplished amazing feats of technological advancement. Logically, he knew that they would have to have such advancements to have achieved the point of space-travel, but he somehow was able to convince himself that was not the case.

In front of him, Tallest Tower rose above the other towers around it, looking even more massive than what he originally thought. The Sun's light reflected off its glass and into his eyes, forcing him to lift his hand to cover his eyes. His blue targeting visor over his eye darkened to compensate for the light, his right was still squinting, but at least he could see out his left. One eye was enough for him, most of the time.

A burst of wind swept around him, howling between the buildings and rustling the garbage on the street. For such an advanced species, the Humans still used too much paper. The silence of the City was starting to creep him out.

"_Start Audio: Bang Bang : 3" _He clicked out in sub-vocals, something he learned from basic, where only sub-vocals were used to communicate to prevent enemies from learning Turian strategies. Turian Basic was translatable, sub-vocals however, took a practiced ear to understand. It had taken him a while, but he had finally programmed his visor to understand what he was saying. The club music started to play quietly in his ears, making the silent abandoned City less haunting.

Continuing his way through the city, he began to look at the buildings around him, his visor cataloging everything around him. Zooming onto words and signs, sometimes displaying information from the Earth's Isolated Extranet. He couldn't read what it said, but found it fascinating how the Humans had been so active at storing information, no matter it's relevance. In his ears, he heard the music change as his gaze moved from the two golden arches on the side of one of the buildings to looking forward again.

If the song had ended a second later, he wouldn't have heard it. However, in the three seconds that spanned between song changes, he heard the unmistakable sound of breaking glass.

Stiffening in the middle of the street, he quickly brought the scope of his sniper rifle up to his eye, scanning the buildings around him. The sound had not come from very close to him, otherwise his visor would have notified him. So he slowly looking around his position, letting the visor scan the area in front of him. He started creeping forward to the next street, hiding close to the buildings and peeking around the corner. His visor automatically zoomed in on the two humans, quite a ways away from him. There were two of them, both female probably, he thought, because of the longer fringe they had compared to the males. His visor automatically highlighted their guns, all Turian-military grade, probably stolen. Then, a purple warning light popped up in the top-right corner of his visor.

_Mass Effect Field detected. Proceed with Caution._

Garrus swore, ducking behind the building again, and activating his Omni-Tool. He opened a communication line to the Turian Home base, and started to talk as soon as he was connected.

"_This is Corporal Vakarian, Infiltrator Class, ID 2954. I've come into contact with two Humans. Both armed. No armour or shields. I have detected a Mass Effect field. One of these humans is biotic." _He relayed in sub-vocals.

"_Acknowledged, Corporal Vakarian. We've been expecting you back at base for some time now. Your signal is coming from a restricted area. Why?" _The communications operator inquired.

He swore again, and hastily replied, "_We can discuss my unruly conduct later. I need assistance."_

"_Of course, Corporal Vakarian. Connecting you to Lieutenant Abrudas."_ The line disconnected as Garrus silently praised his luck, Abrudas wasn't his direct superior, and was in charge of a different squad. She was a brilliant tactician, often favouring non-Military strategies to come out on top. In other words, she would often break procedure to make sure that she would win in a firefight. Hopefully, she wouldn't report his insubordination.

"_Corporal Vakarian, this is Lieutenant Abrudas. I have been informed of the situation. Do you have the tactical advantage?"_

_I was hoping __**you**_ _could tell __**me**_ _that._ He thought to himself.

"_The Humans don't know I'm here, Ma'am. I've detected that they're both armed. Scanning shows a pistol, assault rifle, SMG, and shotgun, although only the SMG and rifle are activated. It's the biotic I'm worried about."_

"_Agreed, Vakarian. Are you carrying any concussive rounds?"_

"_Of course, Ma'am."_

"_Then your objective, Vakarian, is to bring back the biotic. Alive. The other one can be terminated. A patrol will be sent to your location when you communicate back to us."_

In other words, if you die or get injured, we're not going to help you.

"_Yes, Ma'am."_

"_Good luck, Vakarian. Abrudas, out."_

Closing the line, he held his rifle closer to his body. He took one deep breath, then sprinted from his hiding spot, scope of the gun held to his eye. When he was halfway there, he ducked behind cover again, in an alley between two buildings. Infiltration required silence, he would stop for a few seconds to reclaim his breath, then continue slowly. He silently wished he upgraded his armour with a tactical cloak. He trained with one in Basic, but had never requisitioned one when he got out. It would have been useful in this situation.

Catching his breath, that was his last thought before his world exploded with a bang.

* * *

He woke up suddenly, a human face staring down at him. A shot rang out from in front of him, barely missing his head. He body ached, and his face felt like it was burning. Immediately, he began to panic. Warning lights were blinking all over his visor.

_Heart rate elevated._

_Shields compromised._

_Armour compromised._

_Deploying Medi-gel._

_Injuries detected._

_Request medical back-up._

_Omni-Tool nonfunctional._

_Mass Effect Field detected._

Continuing to panic, he noticed it was becoming more difficult to breath. Something was blocking his airway, his throat producing a gurgling sound everytime he took a breath.

_I'm choking on my own blood. I am going to die. I am going to die._

He looked up at the Human, grey irises staring back at him. He could not discern the look on her fleshy face. Human communication involved facial expressions and body language, he suddenly remembered, they had no sub-vocals to communicate hidden meanings. It continued to stare at him as it walked closer to his body. Instinctively, he began to growl, the threatening noise coming from the back of his throat. Which was a bad idea since it forced him to cough, tasting blood as it came up his throat.

The human was moving its mouth, though he did not know what it was sound of its voice was soft and soothing as it reached a warm hand to touch his face. Relying on instinct and reflexes, he quickly got his hand between himself and the Human, pushing her back a distance away. His entire body groaned out in pain. The other Human shouted, forcing the barrel of her gun to his forehead. He went still.

_This is how I am going to die_.

He couldn't help the sub-vocals that started to come out from his mouth. In them he said goodbye to his family. Told his mother he loved her, praised his sister for her accomplishments, told his father that he was sorry. If his Omni-Tool were still working, he probably would have recorded it and sent it to them as a last farewell.

The Spirits were looking down on him today. A few tense seconds later, the cool metal was drawn away from his face, and the other Human parted to the side. The grey-eyed one stood in front of him again. Her hand was stretched out to him, palm upwards.

_What are you doing_.

It said something again, it's tone of voice was still very calm. It did not move as he raked his eyes over her body, trying to figure out what she was doing. It's facial features were neutral, and it's body did not tense. Slowly he reached his hand up to the Human's. Awkwardly, its many-fingered hand clutched his. It groaned as it help him get up to its feet, and quickly got under his arm to put his weight onto its shoulder.

He barely felt his other arm get lifted over the other Human's shoulder before he drifted back into unconsciousness.


	4. Chapter 3: Shepard

_Oh look, an update! Sorry again for the lateness, my excuse this time is that i had everything completely planned out, but only recently was able to write. The first half of this month was devoted to studying. I failed a couple of my classes and had to go back to school to rewrite some exams. Also, it is really hard to describe how to take a Turian's armour off. That part had me stumped. But alas, that is in the past now. Anyways, hopefully i will be better next time. I'm gonna say that I should have another update in the next two weeks. Also, if you ever want to ask questions/nag me for not updating i have a tumblr account under the same name as this one. Enjoy!_

_BTdubs: Mass effect, not mine. Belongs to Bioware._

* * *

The subway tunnel is dark and damp, the sound of water can be heard dripping against the metal tracks. The two girls walking along them make sure to stay away, aware that electricity still ran through them. All around them they can hear the scampering of rodents and other pests, running away from the girls and the alien that hung between their two bodies, its feet dragging on the ground. The wound on its face was still bleeding profusely, soaking Shepard's clothing with the blue liquid. The alien was heavy on their shoulders, and both had started gasp for breath as they became exhausted from hauling it through the tunnels back to the train they called home.

Once there they carried him over to the last car of the train, which they rarely used unless they needed a place to store junk that they were unable to take to the surface. They carefully set it down on the floor of the car, groaning as the weight is lifted off their shoulders. Shepard rolled her shoulders, letting her cramped muscles stretch. She takes off her pack, and sets it down on one of the train seats, collapsing into the one next to it, breathing heavily.

"I don't think endurance training could have prepared us for that." Williams said between her heaving breaths from her place kneeling on the floor. She looked up at Shepard through the hair the covered her forehead, making eye contact with the other woman and starting to laugh, Shepard joining her as the madness from her exhaustion began to kick girls continued to laugh, until Shepard looked over to the alien sitting on the floor, blood still flowing from the wound on its face.

"Come on Williams, we should do something about its wound." Shepard said, quickly sobering from her spontaneous fit of laughter.

"What?" Williams seethed. "I'm still wondering why we brought it back here in the first place!"

"It needed our help." Shepard retorted, rising from her seat.

"Our help? I'm sorry Shepard, but have you suddenly forgotten that these things are trying to fucking annihilate our entire species? We should be killing them back, not rescuing one and keeping it as some sort of pet." The other girl raged, getting up from the floor, and staring Shepard right in the face.

"We don't know that."

"Know what?"

"That they're trying to kill us all. They could be here for some other reason, one we just can't understand." Shepard reasoned.

"So what, you want to question it? Ask it about its motivations? They have no determinable spoken language, Shepard. They're like animals."

"Saying that they're animals indicated that they have no higher brain function. Yet, we know that they've developed superior technology than ours and also have a higher understanding of tactics and strategy that have we have been unable to discern even after the past two months. These things know war, Williams. If we somehow are able to communicate with it, think of all we could learn." Shepard argued, adopting a calm and assertive voice. Williams continued to stare at her, contemplating what she just said. They stayed silent for a minute before the other girl replied.

"Alright." Williams assented, walking away, hopefully to get some medical supplies. Shepard sat next to the alien, hauling its body so its back sat against the doors of the train car, its head falling forward. The brown-haired girl returned a couple minutes later, carrying some of the alien medi-gel, as well as a pair of metal handcuffs.

"Just to be safe." Williams stated, answering the questioning look the other girl was giving her.

"It's unconscious."

"It won't stay that way." Sighing, Shepard reluctantly took the cuffs from the other girl's arms, cuffing the alien's wrist to a pole, then looked back at the other girl for her approval. Williams nodded, slowly getting down on her knees next to Shepard. Silently, they began to remove the alien's armour.

The armour was held to the alien's body with multiple buckles, and separated in multiple parts. Each separate part was able to connect to the other, making it seem as if it was all one unit. They starting at the legs, which were held together by buckles running down the side, and were separated by upper and lower leg, cutting off just above what could only be described as a spur coming out of the back of the alien's knee. The part of it that surrounded the alien's shins came off almost like a boot, the buckles not actually separating the front and back halves of the metal, but just making them looser so that it was easier to take off. Taking off the armour revealed a tight, black outfit, almost like a wet suit, which probably made the heavy metal armour more comfortable to wear. The two girls were also surprised to see several small compartments that held extra ammo in them, and some devices that looked like they were some type of bomb.

The arms of the armour came off the same as the legs, separating at the elbow, and the part that covered its forearm coming off like a glove. On its left arm was a set of straps that surrounded its forearm, with a circular object resting on the palm of its hand. When the alien's hand curled into a fist, an orange-coloured holographic interface appeared around his arm. Shepard delicately removed it from the appendage, intending to study it later.

Finally, all that remained was the armour that covered the alien's torso, waist, and hips. Buckles at the sides of the alien's body separated the front and back halves of the metal, however it did not completely came apart. Unlike the armour that covered the rest of of its body, this part of the armour separated into many different plates, held together by relatively strong magnets, until the only armour that remained covered the alien's shoulders and surrounded its neck. This part was undone by two buckles that were located just above where the alien's arms were. Once unbuckled, the front plate fell right off, then the two girls carefully lifted the alien into a sitting position so they could take the back plate off the alien's body. Setting it back down, they stood up to take a look at their handiwork.

"I never thought they actually looked like that under their armour." Shepard admitted.

"What, you thought it was just a stylistic choice?" Williams teased. Shepard just shrugged her shoulders in response. "Come one, let's get this thing bandaged up."

Continuing with their work, the girls began to slowly apply the medi-gel to the half of the alien's face that had been damaged by the bomb. The alien never awoke as they continued their ministrations, but continued to breathe evenly through its mouth. Shepard couldn't help but notice it's incredibly sharp teeth as she applied the bandages to his face, then reached around his head to carefully to take off the visor that covered his left eye. Experimentally, she brought the blue object up to her own eye. There were several blinking warnings, all written in some kind of logographic alphabet, and she could hear some music coming from a small speaker located somewhere in the device. Taking a look around the room around her, the visor would instantly zoom into anything that her eyes would focus on, then when she glanced at the alien itself some other information that she couldn't read popped up on the screen. She removed the visor from her head, then set it on one of the chairs of the subway car.

"You hungry?" Williams voice broke the quiet of the underground train.

"Um, yeah," Shepard replied quietly, "You think it'll be alright?" She questioned, looking at the alien.

"I think that's all we can do." Williams replied, getting up from the floor, then offering a hand to Shepard to help her do the same. Shepard then followed her to the Living car, where they had left their packs before carrying the alien over to the other side of the train.

"So what do we got?" Williams asked Shepard as she started to take the cans of food she was able to take from their supply run.

"Alot of beans, come chili, that canned pasta that you like, and a few bags of instant mashed potatoes."

"That's it?" Ashley gasped.

"Sadly, yes." Shepard replied sincerely.

"Alright, lets heat up some of that chili. I'm starving."

Shepard nodded, then took a military knife from out of her back pocket, using it to cut the can open, then went to heat up the chili. In the first few weeks of the invasion, the two girls had realised how terrible it was eating cold food. So, in one of their supply runs they were able to steal a couple of pots, as well as a single induction cooking element from an abandoned apartment building. Once back at their subway train, Shepard was able to use the tracks running underneath the train to power the element, and they had been eating hot meals ever since.

The girls ate their supper right out of the pot it was heated in, hungry from the exhaustion that came from carrying the alien back to their underground home. For a few minutes all that could be heard in the subway tunnel was their satisfied groans as they quenched their hunger.

"What should we do about the alien?" Williams piped up when their eating became less ravenous.

"I don't really know. I guess we should keep an eye on it though, just in case it wakes up." Shepard replied.

"Agreed"

"I also want to take a look at that stuff we found on it. The visor, the gun he was carrying, and that device it had strapped to its arm. I think it's the first time we've found one completely intact, it'd be interesting to see how it works." Shepard continued.

"Alright TechnoFreak." Williams joked. Shepard stared at her is unamusement. The slightly insulting nickname was coined during basic training, when Shepard was surprisingly good at any type of technological training the recruits went through, especially given the circumstances of her life before her recruitment. She despised the name, but Williams would bring it up every once in a while when she did anything clever like using the subway tracks to provide electricity to the train.

Rolling her eyes in annoyance, Shepard continued to talk, "Anyways, I'll go watch it first, you get some sleep. Three hours seem like a good amount of time?"

"Yeah, I should be good."

"Right, I'll clean this mess up, you go rest." The girls sat up, and Shepard went to go clean everything off before going to watch over the Turian. opening the door of the end car of the train, she held the pot over the tracks, and rinsed it out with a bottle of water. Going back inside, she returned the pot to its original place, walked past Williams already asleep on the mattress, and back to the car where the alien slept, grabbing her tools along the way. She sat down next to the alien, spreading out its belongings on the ground around her. Picking up the gun, it expanded to its full size in her hands.

"Device responds to skin temperature, expanding and retracting for better portability?" She murmured to herself, looking at the alien next to her as if it would wake up and tell her the answer. "Or maybe its touch sensitive…" She trailed off as she began taking apart the gun, setting the pieces aside to put back later. As the eerie quiet of the underground train started to bother her, she continued to talk to the unconscious alien.

"I should probably hate you." She stated to the silence, looking at the alien to see if he had stirred. "Yet for some reason I find myself in the unlikely position of attempting to nurse you back to health."

The alien, expectedly, did not reply.

"No wonder Williams thinks I'm insane," She continued dryly, "If she were the only one here she'd put a gun to your head a put you out of your misery the moment she saw you. I'm probably gonna spend the rest of tonight dismantling this gun and wondering why I couldn't just shoot your brains out all over the walls of that alley. But no, Every Shepard could not just let another intelligent living thing die if she could prevent it, even the thing that just might be trying to wipe out her entire species." She stopped there, continuing her work in silence. Again, the quiet of her surroundings bothered her and she started to talk again.

"I've always liked taking apart guns." She said, "Something calming about it. It's easy, and repetitive. And you know that once you clean all of its parts, it'll fire better tomorrow, faster shots, and it'll take longer to overheat. Judging by the size, you've got yourself a sniper rifle here, which you seem to have outfitted with several modifications…" She continued talking to the air, fending off the unnatural silence.

About an hour later, she had finished taking the sniper rifle apart, and her throat was no hoarse from talking so much without any hydration. Taking a sip of water from a bottle, the alien next to her shifted, almost not noticeably, a groan-like sound coming from its mouth.

"Fuck, you're waking up." Shepard exclaimed, hurrying to kneel beside the alien. Slowly, it began to stir, moving its head from side to side as its breathing increased. Its eyelids began to creep open, revealing the blue eyes that Shepard had noticed before. It moved its arm to get up, the one that was still handcuffed to the pole. In the blink of an eye, its head whipped around to stare at where it was restrained. Its eyes widened in fear. Frightened, it started to thrash its body, trying to break the cuffs, and effectively hitting Shepard in the forehead with its hand. Reeling from the blow, she trapped each of his arms in one of her hands, and tried to calm it down.

It didn't work very well.


	5. Chapter 4: Garrus

Well this one took much longer than expected. I honestly wanted this one done like two weeks ago, and I was honestly going to finish it two weeks ago. And then there was a tornado, and things got a little messy.

Next chapter will feature a new character as the main point of view, anyone wanna guess who?

Anyways, I'm sorry I suck at this updating thing, and please enjoy!

* * *

He slowly crawls out of the darkness of unconsciousness to the sound of another person's voice, constant and soft. Involuntarily, his mind conjured up images of his mother sitting beside his bed, singing to him as he was sick with fever. Or him as a boy, sitting silently outside his sister's room as his mother tried to soothe the little girl's cries with her quiet voice and subtle sub-vocals. Throughout his entire life, he could never remember a time when his mother raised her voice at him or his sibling.

This voice however, was bereft of the soothing undertone of a Turian's sub-vocals, and he knew the language it was speaking did not match that of the one spoken on his homeworld. Neither did it sound like the harsh, guttural language of the Krogans, or the smooth and lilting tongue of the Asari. Although similar to Salarian, the speaker was talking too slow to be from the amphibian race. There were no obvious pauses between sentences, or intervals between each word, whereas the Salarians made sure to pronounce each and every sound correctly and crisply, so as to make sure they would not have to repeat themselves.

_Something is wrong here. _He thinks to himself, still gradually pulling himself from the recesses of his previously unconscious mind. _Think Vakarian, what is wrong? _Delving into his mind, he began to recall what had occurred before he had blacked out, the memories returning to him in flashes.

_I was hit by a bomb._ He recited in his head.

_I should be dead. _He continued, stating the obvious.

_But I was saved. _Again, obvious.

_By a Human._ The last statement hit him like a hungry Thresher Maw as sudden realization overtook him. This was a Human voice speaking to him. The Humans had taken him. Adrenaline shot through his body, fully bringing him to consciousness, though he kept his body still, his breathing slow, and his eyes closed. The Human was silent.

_Do this quietly, Vakarian. Pretend you're dreaming. Don't want it to think you're awake. _

He groaned, slowly moving his head side-to-side, continuing the motion down his body. Not noticing the cuff that surrounded his right hand and kept him restrained. The Human exclaimed something. Garrus heard it walking toward him, feeling its body heat on his plates as it leant down close to his face.

_Idiot._ Garrus thought, he slowly began to open his eyes, blinking them as if he was just waking up from a deep slumber, trying to release them from the heavy feeling of sleep. The Human's face was half an arm's length away from his own. Silently thanking the Spirits for his luck, he readied himself for a fight. He brought his right arm out, intending that he connect with the Human's fleshy face. However, he was surprised when it was held back, by a metal cuff that restrained his arm. Surprised, his eyes shot open, face turning to stare at his predicament, then back at the Human. A growl escaped his mouth unintentionally. Thinking quickly, he lashed out with his left arm instead, his fist connecting with the Human's face, a distinct crack reverberated through the room as he broke one of its bones. It yelled out in pain, as it reeled back in shock, its hand going up to its face as red blood flowed out of its nose. The Human stared at him in anger, its light grey eyes staring into his blue ones as the black centres in its eyes enlarged.

Then, the Human sprang at him, arms out and fingers curled into fists. He had made it angry. Quickly anticipating its actions, he brought his legs close to his body. When the Human got close enough, he pushed them out, connecting with its soft stomach. The force of his kick pushed the Human's body to the other side of the room. Its breath was forced out of its body as its back connected with the wall. It paused a moment to catch its breath, and Garrus took the chance to scramble to his feet, his right hand was still cuffed, but he was able to move it with him as he ascended to his full height.

The Human had pushed itself off of the other wall, stalking slowly toward him. It was waiting for him to attack. Another growl escaped his throat. The heaviness of their combined breathing reverberated through the room. It slowly walked around him in a circle, retaining eye contact, as he shifted his body to keep the front of his body towards the other one. In doing so, the cuff on his right wrist sounded against the pole it was connected to. The sound distracted the Human, its eyes looking to identify what created the noise. Taking his chance, Garrus thrust his left arm out again, hoping that this time his attack would knock the Human unconscious.

In a flash, the Human ducked under his outstretched arm, crouching and turning around to ensnare his wrist in its grasp. Surprised, he tried to force it of the alien's hands, but it held on tight. Then, it pulled his arm down, twisting his shoulder around in its socket as the Human brought it behind his back, forcing it to bend at the elbow and stretching his muscles to the point of pain and forcing him to bend back to soothe it and forcing him off balance. Keeping his arm immobile against his back with one hand, it used its other to grasp the back of his cowl, and pulling down with a strength that he didn't think a Human could possess. Due to his imbalanced body, the power of the pull forced his body to fall off his feet, his back connecting with the floor. Quickly, the Human dodged his falling body, then scrambled atop him, straddling his chest with its legs, and holding a sharp knife to his throat.

_Where did it get that?_

The Human began speaking again, its voice harsh and intimidating. He had no idea what it was saying, but he had the feeling that it had something to do with the increasing pressure of the knife against his throat. He wasn't going to get out of this. Acknowledging his situation, he forced his muscles to loosen, and his breathing to calm down. His body went limp as he broke his gaze from the Human's, submitting to its threat. Above him, the Human visibly relaxed, the pressure of metal on his throat decreasing. Still breathing heavily, it slowly got off his body, the knife still tightly grasped in its left hand. Blood still flowed out of its nose, and its lip was split. The red liquid was bright and distinct against its pale features of its face.

Its hand stretched out, palm open and pointed upwards, the same gesture it had extended to him back in the alley.

After it helped him up to a sitting position, he rested his back on the wall behind him, bringing his knees up closer to his chest and wrapping his unrestrained arm around them. His other arm sat at a rather awkward position from his body, the cuff attached to his wrist was beginning to rub the skin there raw, turning it blue with irritation. In front of him, the Human crouched down, placing the knife that it had put to his throat into the leg of its boot. Standing up, it glanced down at him briefly before it walked out of the room.

* * *

The Human had taken apart his sniper rifle, he had noticed with extreme irritation after it had left the room, noticing the gun's parts carefully placed on the floor of his prison. His Turian Military-Grade Krysae sniper rifle, that he had oh-so-carefully outfitted with a Concentration Mod, as well as an extra clip, had been taken apart by a lesser species with a set of primitive tools and no knowledge of Turian engineering. While this probably wasn't the most pertinent of problems that he should have been focusing on at the moment, it still sat at the forefront of his mind.

_Keep it together, Vakarian. You can still fight without a gun. You need to get your hand un-cuffed first._

He looked down at his right hand, still cuffed to the metal pole. In a flash of frustrated anger, he pulled at it with all his strength, hissing when the cold metal of the cuff dug into the skin on the underside of his arm, which was not covered by his plates, piercing it. Blood oozed out of the wound, dripping softly onto the floor, and soaking into the under-suit of his armour.

_Futile._

Since brute strength did not seem to work, his eyes began to slowly search the room for an alternate solution. The tools that the Human had used to disassemble his rifle sat on the floor, however they were too far away from him to reach, even with one of his feet. However, while searching for a means to escape, he noticed that not only has the Human confiscated his gun, but his visor and Omni-tool as well.

And his Omni-tool was close enough to retrieve. He silently thanked the spirits for his luck.

_Idiot Human._

Slowly reaching over to grab the device, he picked it up then awkwardly pulled his left hand through its straps, letting the activation module rest in his palm. Closing his fist, he quietly prayed that the device wasn't too damaged. Thankfully, it flickered to life, lighting the room with its warm orange glow and automatically displaying his heart rate and breathing rate. Quickly, he automatically began to tap out a distress call, pitifully hoping that someone would pick it up if they decided to send a patrol to his last known location. As he finished the message, and set it to transmit, a warning came up on the interface.

_Error: Message can not be transmitted._

"_What?_" He exclaimed, momentarily forgetting that it was best that he remain quiet.

"_Explain error." _He addressed, lowering his voice to a whisper.

"_Transmitting function of this device have been disabled due to damage, Corporal Vakarian." _The cool, emotionless voice of his Omni-tool's VI explained to him.

"_Well what can you do?"_

"_All decryption, analysis, and diplomatic abilities of this device are functional. All external communication, repair, hacking, fabrication, and melee abilities of this device are non-functional." _It relayed to him.

"_So you can't do anything useful then." _He exasperated.

"_Untrue, all decryption, analysis, and diplomatic abilities of this device are functional." _The VI reiterated.

Irritated, Garrus quickly powered down the Omni-tool, returning the silence of his underground prison. He forced his hearing to focus on the small sounds of the tunnel that surrounded the room. A scampering of a small creature, the slow predictable sound of liquid dripping against the ground, the ambient hum of electricity, and the sound of footsteps quickly walking towards him.

The Human came back, stopping in front of him abruptly, with its arms crossed in front of its chest. In one hand was a silver package of what looked to be Turian Military rations, probably stolen from Turian corpses that still littered some of the streets of the City. Looking at its face, he almost thought as if the alien standing before him was judging if he was worthy of the precious food that it held in its grasp. It spoke again, before throwing the package of rations next to his left arm. He quickly picked up and, since he was unable to use both hands efficiently, ripped the package open with his sharp teeth. He heard the Human gasp in surprise, and he felt an odd sort of glee when he saw that he was able to alarm his alien host.

Exploiting the Human's obvious discomfort when it came to his pointed canines, he made sure to eat the rehydrated food as messily as possible. Although this proved to be slightly difficult, due to the bandage that seemed to cover half his face (why didn't he notice _that_ before?), he still felt assured that he was able to sell the performance. After he finished, he looked up at the Human, expecting to see it recoiled in disgust, instead it stared at him head on, straight into his eyes. It opened its mouth again, and spoke more words that he could not distinguish. Still retaining eye contact with the Human, he brought his left hand up to his mouth, wiping the remnants of his dinner off his chin. Almost instantaneously, the Human's eyes widened in surprise. He glanced at his hand to see what it was looking at.

_Spirits be damned, Vakarian, you forgot to take off the fucking Omni-tool._

It was a rookie's mistake, one that he became extremely sorry for when the cold edge of the Human's knife was pressed against his throat for the second time that night. Its normally calm voice was screaming in his ear, if he actually understood what i was saying he would have probably conceded to its demands as fast as possible. For some reason the squishy alien still misunderstood the concept of their inability to properly communicate with each other.

The realization hit him hard, and he wondered what part of him didn't think of it before.

One of the biggest functions of Omni-tools was what the manufacturers of the device usually called "diplomatic abilities". All Omni-tools were made so that even if every other part of the machine was damaged, its diplomatic functions would still be available to its user. The main use of the functions being to make communication between the different races of the galaxy effortless with translation technology that would be able to translate between two different languages almost instantaneously, as long as the ability to do so was programmed onto the device.

The Turian military had sent a compulsory update to every soldier's Omni-tool about 30 Earth-days before, containing the program that would be able to translate almost any Human language to Turian Basic.

"_Omni-tool, activate diplomatic abilities. Identify Human language and translate." _He quickly relayed to the machine, hoping it would pick up even when deactivated.

"_Affirmative, Corporal Vakarian."_ The VI replied, the device immediately whirred to life, and began to translate the Human's angry words, finally giving his captor a voice.

"I swear to God you stupid Turian fuck, if you have done something as monumentally stupid as sending a message to your pals up in Central I will slit your throat right fuckin' here, which I really don't want to-" She stopped talking abruptly, finally noticing that what she was saying was being reiterated to him in a different language through his Omni-tool. She stared at him in shock.

"No, please, continue." Garrus insisted. The Human's face was frozen in place when it heard his voice go through the Omni-tool, speaking to it in its own words.

If there wasn't a knife pressed tightly against his throat, he probably would have laughed.


	6. Chapter 5: Major Terellus Vakarian

Ahhhh, remember when I last updated this? Because I don't.

Anyways, almost two months since my last post, and I cannot tell you how sorry I am. This chapter kicked my ass, and in the end I chose to end your suffering instead of adding more to it. So, this chapter might be re-done in the future.

Just a note, I'm back at school again, and since being an engineer is not conducive to me getting time to write, updates might get worse. Again, I'm sorry.

Anyways, hope you enjoy the new chapter and the new POV.

If you want to talk to me/ask questions/bother me for updates you can go to my tumblr, i use the same username there as i do here.

Enjoy the chapter, I hope to hear from you guys!

* * *

_My dearest Cyraelia,_

_The temperature has become warmer here, almost close to that of Palaven. Yet, instead of reminding me of home it makes me wish to leave this planet as soon as possible._

_When they pulled me out of C-Sec, I thought this operation would be simple. In and out. Get the Humans under control, then leave. The General seems to have other ideas, however, ones that he will not disclose to me, or any of his other advisors._

_I heard from Solana the other day. She seems content upon the THS Critius. She also has come to the assumption that she is being scouted for the Turian Blackwatch? I am wondering if you had anything to do with this?_

_I haven't heard anything from Garrus, but he doesn't seem to be getting into any sort of trouble. _

_I hope to be back home soon,_

_Terrellus_

Shutting down his Omni-tool, Major Terellus Vakarian silently hoped that the most recent message that he had composed to his bond-mate back home on Palaven would go through. Communication to his home-world had been difficult in the past few weeks for unknown reasons, so many of his previous messages that he had composed to Cyraelia and his daughter were still stored on the hard drive of his Omni-tool. However, he still continued to write one everyday, just in case.

Four months ago, the Major was on the Citadel, working at C-Sec, until he had received a command from the Turian Military: he was to go to Earth to assist with the Turian occupation of the Human planet, which had been instigated due to the Human's near-activation of the long dormant Relay 314. To protect Citadel law, the Hierarchy had decided that the best way to prevent any Human insurrection would be to initiate martial law in key cities on the planet, using tactics that were also used by the Hastatim for any type of Turian citizen resistance. Before Terellus had joined C-Sec, he had been one of the top-ranking officers of the Hastatim, well on his way to becoming the General in charge of the entire operation. He had left the squad when he and Cyraelia were expecting their first child. Almost 20 years later, he had been called back.

As Hastatim procedure dictated, the invading force of Turians that had been sent to Earth first set up base camps in major cities throughout the planet, which were meant to incentivize Human surrender. However, this initial force was immediately met with resistance. Underestimating Human early warning systems, the Turians did not predict what defenses the Humans could have prepared during the short time it took for them to arrive from the Human colony of Shanxi. The fighting went on for a week in the city that Terellus was currently stationed in, mainly because of the military base that was in the middle of the river that ran between the island and mainland. The fighting resulted in more human deaths than Turian, however, and all Humans who did not participate in the violence had been moved out of the City to base camps situated on the mainland. Terellus was unsure if the same amount of aggression had occurred in other parts of the planet, but according to the General the rest of the occupation operation had run smoothly. However, the General's word was the only thing that Terellus had to go by, seeing as communication between base camps had be almost completely cut off. The only people who had access were the General and communications engineers, for reasons that could only be speculated about between soldiers who weren't on duty.

Rising from his seat, Major Vakarian left his personal tent, nodding to the soldier that stood outside the door. Around him, the Earth day was just beginning to end as the sun set and lit the sky up in a glorious shade of pink. All around him, troops continued to go about their business. Over to the left, a small shooting range had been set up to keep their skills sharp during the long days, and a large group had gathered around two soldiers that were having a go at each other. Instead of breaking up the group, Terellus let it slide, knowing that the soldiers needed to work out the tensions that had begun to set in to everyone's body.

"Major Vakarian!" A recognizable voice shouted from behind him, quickly he turned to the direction from where it came, saluting his commanding officer.

"General Arterius, sir!" He replied.

"At ease, Major." The other man replied as he walked up to where Terellus stood. "Walk with me Vakarian, we need to chat." He commanded. Terellus nodded, following the General as he walked away, making sure to follow one step behind him.

General Desolas Arterius commanded respect from anyone who followed him into battle. His decorated service record alone made sure of that. He exuded charisma, and was able to sway even the most devoted man's opinion to agree with his own. Throughout almost his entire military career he had been widely regarded as one of the best citizens in the Turian Hierarchy.

That is, until Desolas' little brother took the galaxy by storm.

As the youngest Turian to become part of the SPECTREs, Saren Arterius became the golden boy of the Turian Hierarchy, completely overshadowing his elder brother. It was obvious to anyone who worked with the General, the success of this mission was his way back into the spotlight, and the hearts and minds of the Turian people.

"Vakarian, I've heard you restricted the patrol radius again. Why?" General Arterius demanded.

"We've come across more human resistance, sir. I don't want soldiers going out too far until we know where the bastards are hiding."

"Any deaths?" He asked, returning the salute of a soldiers who stopped as he walked by.

"A few, sir. Injuries as well."

"Damn." General Arterius continued towards the largest tent in the base camp, which was mainly used for meetings between the General and other Majors. Desolas walked inside, signaling Terellus to follow him. He then walked across the room, sitting behind the desk near the farthest wall of the tent.

"I need you to work on figuring out where the Humans are hiding, Vakarian. Get Infiltrator units on it, scout out the city, get me results." He ordered, opening up his Omni-tool and beginning to type something on it.

"Yes, sir." Terellus answered, turning to exit the tent so he could get to work as soon as possible.

"Vakarian." The General called after him.

"Sir?" Terellus halted, turning to look at his superior.

"Sit." He replied, nodding his head towards one of the two chairs that sat on the opposite side of his desk. Terellus quickly made his way back across the room, sitting down with his hands placed in his lap, his back directly against the back of the chair.

"Other than the unforeseen Human resistance, how successful do you think the mission is so far? Permission to speak freely."

"Very successful, sir." Terellus replied.

"But?"

"Well, I don't understand why we're still here, sir." He admitted. In front of him, the General chuckled under his breath, in a manner that could almost be considered condescending.

"The mission's not over yet, Major." He replied cryptically. Terellus wanted to speak up again, to ask why they were still on Earth after so long, but just then he was prevented from speaking when a voice rang from outside the tent.

"Permission to enter, General?" It asked.

"Granted."

Opening the flap, Lieutenant Abrudas stepped in, saluting both the Major and General after she did so.

"Urgent news, sirs. One of our scouts has been reported missing after we lost contact with him over four hours ago. He was out of the patrolling radius, and encountered a Human with a reported Mass Effect field. I ordered him to engage."

"Do you know why communication with the soldier was cut?" General Arterius asked.

"We're unsure, sir. Techs think it was explosives, but we can't know for sure unless we check the area."

"Damn Humans, they're starting to get smart," Desolas muttered to himself, "Which soldier was it that went missing, Lieutenant?"

"Corporal Garrus Vakarian, sir."


End file.
